User:Lee Wells/sandbox

Ms. Hays Robinson Kennedy Ms. Kennedy loved children. She adopted all of the kids in the neighborhood – black and white. She coordinated activities for the young people in the neighborhood. Ms. Edith Edmondson, a lifelong resident of Harrods Creek, was one of those neighborhood kids, and vividly remembers Ms. Kennedy and the cross-town softball games between the J-town and Newburg Centers.

Ms. Kennedy was born Hays Robinson to Henry and Louise Robinson on March 1, 1893, in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the sixth of nine children. She was a longtime member of Lampton Baptist Church, and started attending Harrods Creek Baptist Church when she married Calvin Kennedy on November 23, 1923. Mr. Kennedy was the brother of Rev. Harrison Kennedy who was a founding member and pastor of Harrods Creek Baptist Church on River Road. Mr. Kennedy died in October of 1966. At Harrods Creek Baptist Church, she participated as a Watchcare member for 45 years before she moved her membership permanently as part of a promise to Rev. C. Owens, her pastor at Lampton Baptist Church who asked her not to move her membership as long as he lived. On November 15, 1972, the Prospect-Harrods Creek Optimist Club was formed. Their first big project was to develop the newly identified park. Several local churches Green Castle Baptist Church, Harrods Creek Baptist Church, and St. Francis in the Fields in the Field Episcopal Church, joined the Prospect-Harrods Creek Optimist Club, the Metropolitan Parks and Recreation Department to name the park. On Saturday, July 27, 1974, their dreams were realized with the dedication of the Hays Robinson Kennedy Park. A memorial now stands at the park with the following biblical passage printed on it which reads “suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for such is the Kingdom of God.